Hayden sighed and leaned back in his chair, eyes half-lidded with exhaustion.
"So," he said, giving me that playful smirk again, "any other personal information you wanna rip out of me while I'm still emotionally open?"
I swallowed my bite. "Yeah, actually... Who exactly are you working for? And what the hell do you have against my family?"
I winced.
Did I just call the Almasi boys my family? Gross.
Hayden let out a long dramatic breath like I'd asked him to recite the entire Bible backwards. "Oh, this is gonna be long and boring."
"Really?"
"What do you know about the Top Families?"
I blinked. "Top families? You mean like the Malriones?"
He nodded. "They're one of them."
"Not much," I admitted. "Just that they're filthy rich, run almost everything, and you do not want to piss them off."
"True," Hayden said, eyes narrowing. "But did you know that the Malriones weren't always the most feared?"
I frowned. "I think I heard something like that. Victor changed everything?"
Hayden's eyes locked with mine. "My family was."
My jaw practically dropped. "Wait, what?"
He nodded slowly. "My father was the head of the Blood family and Founder of Bloodlust."
"Bloodlust?" I repeated, heart skipping a beat.
"Yeah, it's kinda like a Mafia ... syndicate...whatever. Bloodlust trained fighters—killers—people who could take down a room full of enemies without breaking a sweat."
"No wonder you fight like a demon," I muttered.
Hayden gave a soft laugh, "Yeah. Actually you haven't really seen me fight and right now I'm hoping you never do"
I felt a cold shiver run down my spine , I couldn't even bring myself to imagine what he meant by that.
"But we were betrayed." He continued , " Still don't know who exactly, but the Almasis were definitely involved. My family crumbled. My father was murdered."
My chest tightened. "Hayden, I—"
"It's fine," he cut in. "It was a long time ago. My brother still holds a grudge though... and honestly, so do I. After our father died, Bloodlust went into chaos. My brother fought every potential successor. Killed them. Claimed the title of Demonhead."
There it was again , another cold shudder as the air shifted around us, "Your brother sounds…"
"Scary? He is." Hayden's smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "I've been on the low ever since. Walking around as Aiden was behind perfect, I blended no problem and got trusted easily. But every now and then, my brother gives me a task."
I swallowed. "Including killing me."
"Yeah," he said, without flinching. "At first I accepted. That's why I kept asking for car rides. I was studying you. Sometimes I planned to take you out during the drive. But then… I started liking you. I didn't recognize you at first, you'd changed a lot. Growth spurt and all."
I frowned at that.
"But I think my body did. I was always drawn to you. I really liked it."
My heart pounded. Was he confessing, or just explaining? Either way, thank god I was dark-skinned, because I would've been red as a tomato.
Then it hit me.
"Angela Dickens. That was you, wasn't it?"
Hayden's smile dropped.
"Why would your brother want you to hurt someone I barely know?"
He looked away. Silent. Red creeping up his neck.
"Hayden!"
Nothing.
I pinched his side.
"FUCK! My wounds haven't healed yet, you little gremlin!"
"Then answer me."
"Fine! Yes, I broke her legs. But I didn't mean to! I just told her to fuck off and she started saying stuff about how you were her responsibility and I got pissed, okay?"
My eyes widened.
"I don't want you with anyone else," he admitted, voice quieter. "I…"
I burst out laughing. "Oh my god. Were you jealous?"
"What if I was?" he muttered, crossing his arms like a sulky child. "I was worried she'd take you away from me."
I threw my arms around him. "Hayden. It's you I want. I'm not into girls, remember? I've never been attracted to them."
He smirked. "Well, that's gay."
"You are gay, dumbass."
And then I kissed him—pressed my lips against his, not so gently. We'd done it a bunch of times now, but somehow I still couldn't get enough. His lips were warm, soft, a little damp, ridiculously tempting—and they were mine.
At least now I've learned a bit about him. Gotten to know him better. I've seen sides of him I never expected—his vulnerability, his bashfulness, even that quiet jealousy he tries to hide.
It kind of felt like the walls he'd kept up all this time had finally started to come down. And underneath it all... it was just him. Just Hayden. Beautiful, scary, ridiculous Hayden.
And it felt really nice
Warm. Real. Finally. It wasn't just tension or flirting or him being an ass—this was real. We were together. For real.
God, my chest actually felt light for once. It was almost weird, like my brain didn't quite catch up to what my heart was doing. But I knew one thing—I didn't want this to end.
We pulled away from the kiss, and for a moment, everything felt perfect. I smiled at him, breathless. He smiled back.
Then I made the mistake of checking the time.
"Shit," I muttered, grabbing my phone. "It's getting kinda late. I gotta go."
"Already?" Hayden's voice dipped just enough to sound disappointed. "You want me to take the bus with you?"
Bus? No. Hell no. My face froze, and a full-body shudder ran through me. Not after today.
"I'm calling Julie," I said quickly. "I'll text her my location."
Hayden's expression shifted—serious, protective, something like regret.
"I can't let you do that. I'm sorry but—"
I got the message. But still.
"Hayden," I said, dead serious, "I can't take another bus ride today."
He paused. Then: "Well, maybe you don't have to. You can spend the night here."
My brain short-circuited.
Spend the night… with Hayden? As in, sleep here? In his house? His bed?
I was about to argue—just out of habit, I guess—but the mental image hit me. Waking up next to him. His hair a mess. That annoying sleepy grin of his. Yeah, I folded instantly.
"Okay."
He blinked. "Oh. Cool."
Yep. I'm hopeless.
I grabbed my phone again. "I'll just text Julie. Let her know I'm okay and staying over."
"Okay," he said. While I typed, he cleared the table. Casual, like this was normal.
Fuck, it kinda felt like we were some married couple or something like that.
And Hayden, my beautiful wife with a weird personality complex. 😏
I smiled—no, beamed—and followed him into the living room. We curled up together on the couch like it was second nature.
And in that moment, in his arms, nothing else mattered.
For the first time in a long time, I was truly happy. To be honest , there are still some things I don't know about him but it's better to not just rush into shit right away because at that moment I honestly didn't give a shit.
We talked. We laughed, ignoring the heavier questions waiting in my chest. I didn't want to ruin it.
I just wanted to stay here.
In the arms of my boyfriend.